Hi! Time for another chapter!
Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Troubled-Angel-26, Bohogal1998, fiftyshadeswritergal, xstargirlx123, DS2010, Queenofwheels, HappyGuest (I'm glad that you enjoyed so much! I liked that description myself!), S (I'm glad that you enjoyed the different perspectives; it is a lot of fun to see how each person is a little different in the story!), and Fan (thanks for the encouragement!). I hope that you will enjoy this next chapter. :) Ziva's adventure catches up with her in another way besides a sore bottom.
...
A fresh day. A fresh start.
And fresh pain.
Ziva scrunched up her face at the feeling as she stretched after climbing out of bed at 5:00 on the dot. She pushed up the hem of her pajama top and untangled the bandage that Ducky had put on when she saw him yesterday. Back then it had been fresh, white, dry, and soft. Now it was stained, torn, and wet. Worst of all, she realized that it was not even covering the wound , which was now oozing a murky fluid and swollen red.
Ducky will not like this!
She dropped the useless wrapping into the trash and tried looking at her side a little better.
I should have done that rinse he told me to do. I should have changed the bandage after supper like he told me. I should not have climbed out of my window and up and down another tree. I could feel it tearing it open again but I did not listen to my body! And now it looks way worse and Ducky will be so upset that he will blister my ears with lectures!
Ziva's eyes grew large as she suddenly realized something.
Ducky will tell THEM! I cannot let THAT happen!
She hastily grabbed a clean shirt and headed for the bathroom. She closed her bedroom door behind her, then turned and bumped into Gibbs.
"Good morning, Ziver," he said with amusement.
Does he know? No, he could not! My images are running away with me.
"I said, 'good morning'. You okay, Zi?"
"Good morning, Gibbs," she said, tilting her head to the side so that her hair would hide the flush that had sprung to her cheeks.
"Get dressed, then come have some breakfast. It'll help you wake up some more," he suggested.
Ziva nodded, then slipped into the bathroom to try to clean the oozing cut.
...
Gibbs poured another cup of coffee and took a gulp as he looked out the window at the backyard thoughtfully. He shook his head in confusion and amusement and he remembered how sassy Ziva had been, gobbling one or two bites from one apple before frowning at a worm hole and trying a new one. Her expression after realizing that Jenny was serious about the impending spanking had been rather amusing as well.
Something's off with her this morning, he mused, coming back to the present.
Probably still a bit upset about the spanking, he told himself. But for some reason, that doesn't seem to be what it is.
He took another gulp of coffee as he heard Ziva start down the stairs. He turned and smiled at her. She half-smiled back, heading to the kitchen and grabbing a bagel from the bag next to the toaster.
Nope. Not shame over being spanked. But something else is wrong. I'll just have to keep an extra close eye on her and hope that whatever it is clears up.
...
The day passed in surprising peace. Gibbs was proud of how easily Ziva could settle down when she tried. Her activities were slightly unusual - sharpening his kitchen knives and cleaning every atom of her gun for two hours before locking it into his safe at his insistence - but he did not comment, just nodded his praise for her calm amusements.
I might just have to reward her, he thought before making a quick phone call after lunch.
Ziva got a phone call of her own around 2:00.
"David."
"Hi, Ziva."
"Oh. Jenny."
"How are you, sweetie?"
"I am fine," Ziva said stiffly.
"I meant to drop by over my lunch break but something came up."
"You do not need to check on me."
"Yes, Zizi, I do."
"But ..."
"No 'buts', Ziva. Whether you like it or not, I do care about you and I will check in on you. And I know that when I was younger, whenever I had to be disciplined, I always wanted to know that everything was okay between me and whoever was the disciplinarian. It is part of my job as a mo... someone who disciplines you to check up on you afterwards and make sure that are feeling loved and wanted."
Ziva could not think of anything to say in response to that.
"Ziva, the point of the spanking was to help teach you and protect you from doing foolish things. Do you understand why I did it?"
"Yes."
"And are you okay with it?"
Ziva took a deep breath. "I do. And I AM fine, Jenny."
As long as you do not ask me about how my cut feels.
A soft laugh from the other side of the phone silenced Ziva's anxiety. "Ziva, you sound so much like your father."
Zivas backbone stiffened. "I am not like him!" she hissed in protest.
"Oh, no, no, no! Not Eli, dear. I meant Jethro. I can't tell you how many times he has told me that he is fine with exact same tone that you just used."
"Oh."
Ziva brightened a little at that comment. Being like Gibbs was a much different comment than being like Eli. She wanted to be like Gibbs. She felt highly complimented to be compared to him.
"I'll call you later tonight, okay? I have a meeting now, but I wanted to check in on you. And don't say that I didn't have to, because I did."
"Bye, Jenny," Ziva said with a barely suppressed smile.
"Bye, Zi. Love you."
...
Ziva managed to continue with the good behaviour. In fact, she had been so good all day that at 4:00, Gibbs called out, "Get on your running shoes, Ziver. We're going for a jog before heading to the diner for supper. I convinced Tony to meet us there rather than having more take-out. He can get you the pizza some other day."
Ziva's head popped up from the gun catalogue that she had been perusing.
"Really?" she asked hopefully, her eyes lighting up with excitement. It was so easy to elicit that emotion from Abby, but Gibbs had never realized before how easy it was to please Ziva as well.
I'll have to try to do this more.
"Yep. C'mon."
...
Ziva smiled eagerly. She was not going to have to fight to go outside - at last Gibbs was understanding her needs the way that she saw them. He had said jog, but that was not too far from a good, fast run. Once they were on a pathway, she could break away and do whatever she wanted within reason.
This will be fun! she decided.
At least, that was what she thought until she stood up and remembered just why she had been so quiet all day. Her side was paining.
The soap and water earlier did not work, she admitted to herself.
"Why are you just standing there? Get your shoes and let's go," Gibbs said from where he stood by the door, watching her carefully for any sign that something was amiss. Ziva took a split second to come up with a plan, then acted on it.
"Can I change first? I want to wear something more comfortable for running."
"Jogging for today, Zi. Ducky gave permission for it only if we warm up with walking first, then go slowly and stop if you start feeling any pain. But yeah, go ahead and change. "
Ziva's heart nearly stopped as she realized the mess that she was walking - jogging - into if she did not speak up right away. Gibbs really did believe that she was feeling okay or he would not have invited her to go jogging. Ducky was counting on the fact that she was going to be honest about her health. She did not know where Jenny and Tony and Tim and Abby and even Jimmy would tie into the situation, but she had a sneaking feeling that they did.
She turned and headed for the stairs, taking the time with her back to Gibbs to nervously bite the inside of her bottom lip. Because no matter how badly she might feel about the deceiving she was about to do, she was going to do it.
As she took the first step on the stairs, her eyes flew to the list of rules posted to the wall.
I guess this is as good a reason as any to show that the rules do not really apply to me. And I really DO need to go jogging. Ziva stepped into her room and closed the door behind her. This is all Gibbs' fault. If he would let me go running any time that I wanted to, then I would not have to leave out the truth now.
She looked at herself in the mirror and shook her head.
"He will not believe that is a good excuse, will he?" She leaned in and looked herself in the eye. "No, he will not," she scolded herself.
Still, she turned to her dresser and pulled out her favourite tank top for exercising. She pulled off her loose shirt and looked at her side. In the two hours since she had last peaked at it, the skin had gotten more inflamed.
I will use rubbing alcohol tonight. I have a bottle of hand sanitizer. That will hurt, but it should work. I will use it before I go to bed, she promised herself. I do not need to tell Ducky. I have taken care of myself many times. It will be no different this time.
Already wincing at the thought of the lecture Ducky would give her if he knew that she was disobeying his medical orders, Ziva pulled on her new shirt, pulled her hair into a ponytail, and pulled on a pair of socks. Then she hurried down the stairs, hiding her wincing from Gibbs' hawk eye.
...
Something is off, Gibbs thought again as he looked at Ziva from the corner of his eye. He still could not tell why, but the joy that was usually so evident when she was outside was missing.
Thinking that it was possibly due to the slow pace that they had been keeping for the last mile, he decided that even Ducky would be satisfied with how warmed up they were by this point.
"Let's speed this up," he suggested, beginning to jog slowly.
Ziva seemed to hesitate - when does she ever do that?! - before speeding up with him. The two of them fell into stride, but Gibbs realized that she was still looking stressed. He put out his arm, stopping her.
"Ziva, what aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing."
He paused and looked at her for a long moment.
"That was pretty fast, Officer David. Want to rethink and make sure that's the truth?"
"No!" she blurted out, then flushed a tiny bit. "Yes, it is true."
He stepped forward into her personal space, a technique sure to have his subordinates stuttering apologies and truth within seconds - at least once they were trained to recognize when he was in a more no-nonsense mood than normal. Apparently, Ziva was still learning as made obvious by her defiant glare right back at him.
"Are you in pain?" he demanded in a low, controlled tone that warned heartily against lying.
"Not. At. All."
Gibbs stepped back, maintaining eye contact. He could not say for certain that she was lying, but he did know that something was wrong.
...
I have to throw him off of the idea that I am lying, Ziva thought frantically. There was only one way that she could think of that would work.
She turned and started running toward the diner.
"It's about two miles from supper, is it not?"
Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. There is no need for me to feel guilty. I am already being punished for lying!
...
Gibbs held the door open for Ziva as they reached the diner. He did not like how drawn her face was, but knowing her, she was not going to talk to him.
"Look's like Tony's already got a booth," he said.
Ziva did not bother to respond. She went over and quickly sat next to Tony, not wanting to be next to Gibbs. Her logic was proven to be flawed as Gibbs took a seat across from her. With his piercing blue eyes searching her face, along with the pain now throbbing in time with her heartbeat, she knew that she would not be able to eat a thing.
She was correct. She ate a few bites of her hamburger, shoved the fries around in the ketchup and nibbled on a few, took two bites of the pickle speared onto her burger, and then left the rest.
"Not hungry, Ziva?"
Leave it to Tony to draw attention to the one thing that I'm trying to hide!
"I did not do much today so I do not have much of an appetite," she told him.
"Oh. Then can I have the rest of your burger?" he asked with typical big brother interest in leftovers.
"Go ahead."
"Tony, you got your car here?" Gibbs asked.
"Yeah, Boss. Why?"
"Ziva and I jogged here but would you be able to give us a ride home?"
"Of course. Oh, and I promise, Zi, I'll get the pizza for you later on. We're good about that whole water fight thing yesterday, right?"
Ziva smiled and nodded.
"Of course. But since you promised pizza, make sure you deliver it!"
"I will."
Gibbs smiled at the "kids" getting along.
"I'm going to go pay. The two of you get out to Tony's car. I'm ready to spend some time on my boat and if you two want to play a game or watch a movie, you can have the rest of the evening."
"I am actually feeling tired so I will probably go right to bed," Ziva said. The twin looks of confusion, immediately followed by suspicion, proved that Gibbs and DiNozzo both knew that Ziva was not normally so eager to put herself to bed early. Gibbs gave Tony a look, then went to the cash register.
"'Fess up, David," Tony demanded.
"What?" Ziva asked, looking up with confusion on her face.
"It's clear that you aren't saying something. What's up with the whole wanting to go to bed early?"
"I just want to get more sleep."
"Yeah, right. What's the real truth? You been grounded or something?"
"No!"
"Hey, don't get so upset. If you won't tell me, I have to guess. Are you trying to escape for the night through the window? Because I have personal experience attempting that and both times ended up with me unable to sit comfortably the next day."
"I am not going to escape!"
Tony gave her a knowing look. "You tried that already, haven't you?"
She glared daggers at him and he smirked. "Knew it! But that's not what's got you so quiet. Are you in pain?"
"NO!" she said loudly, hoping the very real annoyance would override the very false lie.
"Okay, okay!" he said, holding up his hand to calm her down. "Just know, if you ever need to talk, give me a call or we could go get coffee. Whatever you need ... or want, 'cause I know how boring Gibbs' place can get ... just let me know."
"Thanks. All I want right now is just to go to bed."
Tony sighed. "Fine, Ziva, fine. I get it. You just want time to yourself."
"Tony, it is not ..."
"Gibbs is done with the bill. Let's go."
They walked out, both feeling dissatisfied with their conversation.
The ride home was fairly quiet. Tony drove them home without any more pressure for her to honest. Once they got home, Ziva scampered up the stairs and spent an agonizing five minutes applying hand sanitizer to her side after a two-minute shower. Before Tony had even finished giving Gibbs the basic rundown of what had been happening in the office during his absence, Ziva was curling up in her bed, cradling her side and trying to hold back acknowledgment of the pain.
Just ignore it. Just ignore it. I will feel better in the morning.
But the truth was, she would not.
...
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